Canadian Niagara Falls (6/30/2015)

This morning we headed into Niagara to "do" the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.  Joe changed the setting on the GPS to read distance in kilometers instead of miles so he could keep an eye on the speed limit.  So we are driving along, and GPS Lucille says "turn right in 900 kilometers."  Like any of us had any idea how far 900 kilometers is!  We all had a good laugh about that.

Marilyn needed to find a bank, so she and Collins left in their car, and the rest of us went back to that Visitor Center we drove by last night, and got the scoop on the choices of things we wanted to see here.  We all planned to meet at the library and figure out their GPS situation.  We had to wait on the Brundiges for a while, and when they met up with us, they had figured out that Marilyn and Mazie were going to have to buy the Canada edition to add to their GPS, which they could either do online or by buying a chip.  They decided to buy the chip, and it started raining again, so we drove across the street to lunch at Tim Hortons.  By the time we finished lunch, it had quit raining, and we were set to begin our Canadian Falls adventures.  Remember you can click on the pictures to make them larger.

Our first attraction was the White Water Walk, which is a walk along "viewing platforms and a 1,000 ft. boardwalk, where the water crashes by at about 30 miles an hour with waves 3 to 5 meters high."  It was beautiful along this walk, the water was clear turquoise with white splashing waves.

Fortunately, there were no steps to get to this boardwalk, we took an elevator and then walked through a tunnel to get to the boardwalk.

Next, we went to the Table Rock area for our next attraction, Journey Behind the Falls.  We got a few pictures here before we headed down another elevator to another tunnel.  Only Marilyn, Joe and I did this attraction.

For the Journey, we were handed out yellow ponchos.  Engineers in the mid-19th Century built a tunnel through the rock.  Today, these concrete tunnels lead on a totally different view of the Falls.  There was a platform here before we got into the tunnel and we could see our boat, "Maid of the Mist" was out with another group.  This is where we needed the ponchos because we did get a little wet from the mist from the falls.

Then we walked through the tunnel over to a portal to view the water crashing over the falls from the backside.  There were two portals, the first we walked right up to, but the second one had a long line, probably a 45 minutes wait, before we got up to it.  Although the view seemed the same, we were quite a few feet further behind the falls than the first portal.

We quickly took our pictures and headed back up the tunnel to let the other people step on up.

We got back to the top and looked at the view again for a while, even caught a few rainbows through the mist. It's hard to walk away from such beauty.

We could really see the horseshoe shape from this vantage point.

 

And of course, there's always ice cream.

We waited here to catch our bus back to the cars.

and then we were on the bus

We had to change buses at the Whirlpool Aerocar stop (we did NOT do the aerocar), and Joe had a little adventure here.  Or his umbrella did -- yes, he new, manly umbrella.  While he was trying to take pictures, somehow his umbrella escaped his grasp and landed on the aerocar platform below.  It was way beyond his reach, and he had to ask for help, so when the car got back, one of the workers went out on the platform and rescued it for him. So he was reunited with his new best friend -- his umbrella.

Lots of photo opportunities, and Marilyn just loves to get her picture taken!

We went back to the RVs, but Joe, Mazie and I drove back down to view the falls with the lights on.  And that was amazing (although we did have to pay $20 for parking!).

And Joe took some pictures of the city skyline.

 The (below) is where Collins and Marilyn are having dinner tonight.

And more photos.  It is hard not to just keep taking pictures of such beauty.

We finally called it a night, but we had been fortunate that we just had a few sprinkles during our time here tonight.  We got back to camp just before 11:00.  Collins and Marilyn did not come down to the falls tonight because they are doing a "fine dining" experience tomorrow night to see the lights, and watch the fireworks, from the Skytron restaurant, a revolving restaurant with a view.  I think it shows up in most of the skyline pictures, as well as the "SkyWheel", a ferris wheel with "climate-controlled gondolas that soar the skies 175 feet about Niagara Falls."  We didn't ride that either, but I could have done that.  Joe and I could have done the Aerocar too, but we didn't.  It went over a whirlpool area called the Niagara Gorge, rather than out over the Falls themselves.  We hadn't planned to riding the Aerocar, and after the umbrella episode, it was probably better that we vacated those premises.

Arriving Canada (6/29/2015)

This morning was our day to leave the country and head into Canada.  For some reason, ours was the only GPS that would show Canada, so Marilyn and Mazie will have to figure out why theirs won't when we get to camp tonight.  Of course, the problem with that is that we won't be using our hotspots for internet, so we will have to go find wifi somewhere.

Both Collins and David wanted to top off their propane tanks, and Collins found a place yesterday where they sold propane, but the sign said they didn't open until 9:00 so we did not plan on an early start.  And we all needed to top off our fuel tanks, assuming gas in Canada would be a lot higher.  We left the campground about 9:30, but it was about 10:15 by the time we all got the fueling done.  It was nice this morning, in the 60s, moving on up to the 70s by afternoon.  As we neared the border crossing, we crossed the beautiful Niagara River.


We had to pay a $14.00 toll to cross the border.  For some reason, the border guard decided our RV needed to be inspected, or searched, or whatever, so while our traveling companions were able to pull on through, we had to pull off and let the border patrol people (3) search our coach, while we were asked to step over to the building and wait outside.  That process probably took about 20 minutes, but they finally returned our passports and sent us on our way.  So we entered Ontario about 11:15.


We drove through a couple of towns, and followed Lucille right to our campground, outside of Niagara Falls, Ontario.  We are right on the river, and Mazie and I walked over to it after we got set up. The campground is a little soggy from all the rain around here, but otherwise, it is a nice grassy, shady spot.

After we all had a sandwich for lunch, we headed to the Falls to get information for tomorrow.  David opted out of this little trip, he had a headache and was going to lie down for a while.  The road takes us right alongside the falls, but all of the information areas charged to park in them, usually $20.  We finally stopped at a gift shop and got a little information, but not what we needed.  So we went on our drive a way further, passing this beautiful Flower Clock that Collins had mentioned.


Then we found a fruit stand, but their prices were pretty high so we didn't buy anything, and Marilyn and Mazie only bought a little.  It all looked good, though.

Strawberries were $32.00 a case (not sure what they called the "case", that's my word); cherries were $15 and $10 a basket, and apples were $6.99 a basket.  All Canadian money, so it should be about 20% less in American dollars. 

We drove into the town of Clifton Hills looking for a Visitor Center, but the one we found only had brochures, no person staffing a counter, so we still don't have the information we need for tomorrow.  They sell an "Adventure Pass" here like on the U.S. side, for 4 attractions for $54.95.  That includes the boat ride and a movie, which we aren't too interested in doing again, but we haven't found out what the other attractions cost as single tickets, "Just Behind the Falls" and the "White Water Walk."  And, of course, there is the bus transportation to deal with.

We finally headed back to camp.  We are thinking we will drive back to the Walmart to pick up a few things, and the M&M girls think they might need a mini SD card to get their Canadian information to come on their GPS, so I don't think we are in for the night yet.  And I need to go find a wifi to get this posted. 


Well, we weren't done with our day yet.  We (the 5 of us, David stayed home again, smart guy) did, in fact, drive in to Walmart, then over next door to McDonalds to get on their wifi.  But their wifi didn't work, so we ate, and wasted an hour there, then decided to find the local library.  With Lucille's help, we did find it, and passed right by a large Visitor Center, the one we were supposed to find while ago.  Apparently, we turned the wrong way, but we don't even know if we were on the right road when we turned.  Oh well, we know where it is tomorrow.


We got to the library at 7:35, and it closes at 8:00.  Mazie is rapidly downloading the Garmin updates, with Joe over her shoulder,  Marilyn is at another table doing the same thing.  I'm sure they will be running us out of here momentarily.  They just announced the 10-minute warning, so I'm outa here!

Rain is predicted again for tomorrow, so we will have to wait and see what we accomplish tomorrow. We are here until Thursday, so we have a few options.